*Filmmaker Jafar Panahi intends to serve a prison sentence after the international press tour for It Was Just an Accident.*
*Madison Darbyshire for Bloomberg News*
Jafar Panahi wants to go home.
The legendary Iranian director is nearing the end of a tiring awards season. His latest movie, It Was Just an Accident, is nominated for the Academy Award for best international feature film. But Panahi’s mind is elsewhere: on his family, friends and collaborators in Iran.
“I am constantly thinking about them,” he says from New York, wearing his signature black sunglasses indoors, a shock against his light gray hair. We’re speaking just four days after the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, setting off retaliation across the Middle East.
Panahi is living between two discordant worlds: In the US he’s moving through a feverish schedule of talk shows and interviews before Oscar voting. In Iran more than 1,300 people have been killed in attacks by the US and Israel, including the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The strikes followed nearly two months of widespread protests and a brutal government crackdown that left thousands dead. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates the death toll to be more than 7,000, with over 10,000 additional deaths still under investigation.
Didn’t like the movie but I admire the director’s dedication to making movies. It’s not even the first time he’s been in jail for it.
gamersecret2 on
Panahi is one of the clearest examples of why film matters, because even simple truth telling scares powerful people. Nobody should face prison for making a movie.
I hope the international film world stays loud about this and does not let it fade after one news cycle.
4 Comments
*Filmmaker Jafar Panahi intends to serve a prison sentence after the international press tour for It Was Just an Accident.*
*Madison Darbyshire for Bloomberg News*
Jafar Panahi wants to go home.
The legendary Iranian director is nearing the end of a tiring awards season. His latest movie, It Was Just an Accident, is nominated for the Academy Award for best international feature film. But Panahi’s mind is elsewhere: on his family, friends and collaborators in Iran.
“I am constantly thinking about them,” he says from New York, wearing his signature black sunglasses indoors, a shock against his light gray hair. We’re speaking just four days after the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, setting off retaliation across the Middle East.
Panahi is living between two discordant worlds: In the US he’s moving through a feverish schedule of talk shows and interviews before Oscar voting. In Iran more than 1,300 people have been killed in attacks by the US and Israel, including the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The strikes followed nearly two months of widespread protests and a brutal government crackdown that left thousands dead. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates the death toll to be more than 7,000, with over 10,000 additional deaths still under investigation.
[Read the full profile here.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-13/why-it-was-just-an-accident-director-jafar-panahi-will-go-to-prison-in-iran?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3MzQwNTA1NCwiZXhwIjoxNzc0MDA5ODU0LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUQlRTUzRLSVVQVFUwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.slDC9FMwz3TOYJGPl1IgYOEWaL_IV4v4zh5ecDjSC_c)
I can highly recommend this movie
Didn’t like the movie but I admire the director’s dedication to making movies. It’s not even the first time he’s been in jail for it.
Panahi is one of the clearest examples of why film matters, because even simple truth telling scares powerful people. Nobody should face prison for making a movie.
I hope the international film world stays loud about this and does not let it fade after one news cycle.